


Best Friends With Each other (But Always Wished They Were More)

by shrieky_noodles



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: A lil bit angsty, Best Friends, EVERYONE IS FUCKING QUEER IT'S ME WRITING, El is also queer hehe, Gay Will Byers, Grieving, Growing Old, I Would recommend you give it a listen, I dont expect you to enjoy this, Karen Wheeler is a Karen, Kinda Conan Gray vibes, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Mike wheeler is a bit stupid but yeah, No beta we die like Barb, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Please do not steal this ugly thing, Please read this I need validation, Reposted from my oneshots book on Wattpad, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Title Is From A Conan Gray Song, The author has a headache, We do not stan her in this house, anyway spoiler alert ig: they die in the end, au i guess, because i wrote it while missing my crush who never talks to me, but it was sad for me, but not will hes already dead lmao, but nothing explicit obvi, but they think it is, byler, cupcakes should be blue, gay author, gay shit, heteronormative culture is toxic, hyoop, i posted it on wattpad too, idk - Freeform, idk if this is actually sad, im an evil bitch, im dead inside, im in a slump, kinda implied memory issues, kinda sad kinda happy ending, kinda sad maybe, literally please do, oh wow im pathetic, old gays, oooh yeah Mike implies sexy times, sad old gays, saying goodbye, so is El, this is punishment for asking me to update, unspecified queer Mike Wheeler, why am I tagging so much, will wishes he were heather and mike doesnt even like heather, written at 4 am, yay, you can give me suggestions of what to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26288506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrieky_noodles/pseuds/shrieky_noodles
Summary: Will knows mike is a boy who likes girls, but he still fell for him.Mike knows Will is a boy, but he still fell for him.They know their feelings are one sided, but they still have them.
Relationships: Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Byler oneshot I wrote like three weeks ago at 4 AM, please let me know if you see any really bad typos. 
> 
> Title from the song The Story by Conan Gray. It kinda fits the story.
> 
> I tried :|
> 
> The writing style changes a ton because my brain is weird, but eh, idrc right now. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> T/W for minor homophobic undertones, and internalized homophobia.

Short pen strokes, trying to put pure beauty down on paper.

Pink lips, with a hint of rose red, tilted slightly into a soft smirk. 

Dark hair, curling over sharp pale cheekbones. 

Soft brown eyes, kinder than you would expect. Loving, even. Glancing down at his hands, insecure in spite of his beauty. Unsure how to make his real thoughts known. 

Slender fingers, curled into soft fists. 

Slumped shoulders, worried about how he'll look, no matter what he does. 

Determined brow, ready to tell all. 

Blushed cheeks, shy but happy. 

Lashes, fluttering even when perfectly still. 

Chest, so full of love. Love that Will doesn't get.

Mike Wheeler, Will thinks, might just be the most perfectly imperfect thing. Every feature, creased in the most perfectly imperfect way. Will would gladly get caught in the hurricane of emotions, trapped inside the boy, waiting to explode out. Will wishes Mike would look into his eyes, maybe once, maybe twice, maybe always.

~~~~~~~~

Will has the most enchanting eyes in the world, Mike decides with no debate. The most enchanting everything.

His eyes aren't like El's eyes, or Max's eyes, or any girl's eyes. Since Will is a boy, his eyes are boy's eyes. That fact scares Mike a little, but in a thrilling way. Boys eyes, so filled with pain and struggle, yet so breathtaking. Mike wouldn't mind if Will took away his last breath, just as long as it made him happy.

Soft hair, Mike wants to reach out and touch it, but it feels both there in his mind and miles away. 

Arms, crossed over a slender chest, not in defiance, but in self preservation. In fear of being harmed. Mike wants to wind his own arms around Will's chest, protecting him from both the people around him, and the people that Mike will never know.

Mike wants to hold him so close they can feel each other breathe. In and out. Calm, and slow.

Mike wants to do everything with Will.

Grow tall, grow up, grow old. 

Be something more than the best friends everyone seems to see them as. Hearts beating together, but also apart. Individuality and separation, but also unity. Mike dreams of being next to Will, holding his hands, kissing his lips, touching him in the ways only boyfriends and _girlfriends_ are supposed to touch each other. Being loved by him.

His. Him. Boy. Will.

Will isn't a girl, so Mike doesn't get to hold him. It isn't fair, but there is a reason, there has to be, otherwise, why should love be so hated?

~~~~~~~~

Paper. So easily rippable, burnable. So much simpler than a single kiss. Something deletable and reversible. So impermanent. So temporary.

Not like Mike, not strong or stubborn. Not bold or brave. Weak and breakable. Removable. Will rips the paper into tiny pieces and tosses it into the sink, hoping the water will wash down his feelings. Watching the thin fiber wrinkle and bleed ink. Plugging the sink at the last moment and trying to salvage what could end up as the only part of Mike that Will can ever really have.

~~~~~~~~

Tears dripping down cheeks, sinking towards land, but instead meeting the palm of a hand smoothing them away. Never to meet the pale blue cotton pillow case they longed to stain with temporarily forgotten heartache. Sleep slowly taking over their previous holder. Gentle click of the door, shut by a concerned older sister. 'So early to sleep,' she thinks, 'I wonder why.'

~~~~~~~~

_Kindergarten. A little boy sat alone, coloring. No friends to speak of, and certainly no best friends. Another boy moved towards him, shyly, wondering how to introduce himself. What a pretty picture, the second boy noticed, all flowers and pretty butterflies. Not very boy-like things to be drawing, but maybe that was okay._

_~~~~~~~~_

_Flowers and leaves drawn hesitantly onto rosy cheeks, not steadily like the hands of a boy drawing since he was young, but intentional. Listening to the directions of his companion._

_"There. Pretty." Mike mumbled, adding the last petal on a particularly intricate purple blossom._

_"Not pretty," his mother tried to correct her son, but quickly realized that handsome might not work on Will Byers, who did look pretty. Soft petals curving up around his eyes, clumsy, but sweet. She searched for a less feminine word to describe the foliage on Will's round face, but was at a loss._

_"Nice. Will looks nice." was all she could seem to put together._

_Mike looked up at his mother uncertainly, thinking to himself that Will looks far too pretty to just be described as nice._

_~~~~~~~~_

_Second grade was too early to be teased for looking girly in pretty face paint, but when Will painted silver feathers onto his cheeks in fourth grade, as Mike watched, mesmerized, he felt nervous. He ended up wiping off the feathers, and trick-or-treating in his wizard robe and hat instead._

_'Less risky,' his mom had told him, and although he didn't quite understand why feathers would have been risky, he wasn't about to take another risk, not after the last risk he took ended in a knocked out baby tooth and a skinned knee._

_Mike was disappointed by the lack of feathers of course, but when Will repeated Joyce's sentiment, he nodded his head sagely, secretly wondering if it had something to do with becoming a bird and flying away._

_"Maybe next year. We wouldn't want people getting the wrong idea." was what Mike's mother replied with when Mike had asked to paint his face with Will the day before._

_Mike trick-or-treated as a frog instead._

_~~~~~~~~_

Staring at a sink full of water, noticing a stray drip now and then, adding texture to the smooth surface. It isn't until Will lets his eyes focus on his reflection that he realizes he's crying.

Letting out silent, deep sobs. 

Wanting to be comforted, but not by him mom, not by his brother, by Mike, the boy he knows he can never have. He wants to be coddled. Kissed on the nose, and told he will be protected. Protected from the cruel world he has no choice but to live in.

Eyes torn from the puddle of water left in the draining sink, not realizing he's pulling the plug. Letting Mike wash down the drain.

He shuffles to his room, letting himself wallow in the lingering pain, before slowly tucking himself in. He doesn't stay awake until morning drawing, because he knows if he does, all he'll have is a sketch book full of pink lips, with a hint of rose red, tilted slightly into a soft smirk. Dark hair, curling over sharp pale cheekbones. Soft brown eyes, kinder than you would expect. Full to the brim with everything he loves about Mike, the boy he can never have.


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike Wheeler revisits Castle Byers after decades, and says goodbye.

Michael Wheeler smiles down at the beaten up drawing in his hands, tears trailing down his time worn cheeks.

He takes the image in one last time, engraving each pen stroke and color into his mind before placing it delicately into a shoe box, on top of several other items that have been important throughout his life.  
The contents included a mixtape, a bottle of white nail polish, a dust covered scrunchie, a scrap from an eggo box, a mini pride flag, and a little booklet explaining the process of adoption with a little dried up four leafed clover pressed into page 13.

Mike's hands shake as he flips the box lid down with finality. None of the items have meaning anymore, now all he needs are the memories. Will always used to tease him for being somewhat of a horder anyway, and sometimes the best way to accept death is to let go.

He walks through the woods until he makes it to his destination. A few sticks leaning on each other and pieces of fabric are scattered here and there, but to Mike it's still perfectly recognizable.

Castle Byers, in all it's nostalgic glory, looks sad awaiting it's one last visitor.

Mike crouches down into where he and Will used to sit inside, somehow keeping his balance, and let's out a shaking sigh.  
'Time to say goodbye,' he thinks with a small smile. 'I only need the memories now.'

"It's been six months," is what he says out loud.  
"I'm ready to really say goodbye now. I know you were ready for a long time, but I needed a little extra time to think. You know me, I always have."  
Mike inhales shakily, noticing when he looks up it's starting to snow.  
"It's perfect because it's winter. You never really liked summer after school ended. Too stuffy for your old bones. You said that since you were twenty one, but I'm pretty sure I was always the stiff one." Mike is still surprisingly fit for his old age, but Will was still going on jogs during his last few days, even if they were slower than would be normally.

Mike gently places the box down in a nest of twigs and leaves and falls into a lower crouch, knowing he won't be able to hold a straight position for long.  
"I'll gave to make this quicker than I want to, Clo said I could go off by myself just as long as I got back by 5:30. It's 5:07 now and you know if I'm a minute late they'll send out a search party. They really do take after your mother, don't they." after a moment of consideration Mike stands, tugging a log over to where he was previously crouched, and sitting on that instead.  
"But I'm getting off topic. I'm here to say goodbye, because if I never do I know I'll never really accept that you're gone." Mike zips up his dark green puffed jacket as he feels the air around him chill with the incoming dusk.  
"I remember when we first kissed. I mean of course I do, it was one of the biggest momemts of my life, but I mean I remember it so vividly, like it was yesterday, or maybe a week ago. My memory always has been better than yours. It was after homecoming sophomore year. The girl I was going with decided to make out with someone else right in front of me. I wasnt even jealous, just humiliated. It wasnt El of course, this was... A month or so after El dumped me, and it was for a senior girl too, I think. El..."  
Mike shakes his head slowly, remembering more and more as he reminisces.  
"Ask El how she's doing if you end up in the same place as her, yeah? And give her a hug, she was quite the hugger." A snowflake lands on Mike's hand, and he lets it melt off, dripping to the forest floor and soaking into the dirt.

"Back to homecoming night, I was devastated, decided to go have a cry near the buses, and that's when you showed up, brandishing two of those blue frosted 'under the sea' themed cupcakes and telling me to 'stop crying over stupid girls'. God, you were like an angel bearing sweet salvation. Later, when you learned to bake, you still held onto that belief that 'Sugary food makes everything better', and I would have to agree, since nothing would make me feel better now than one if your homemade chocolate chip cookies, but just as long as they came with you on the side. You handed me the smaller cupcake, sat down next to where I was crying on the pavement, and started to explain to me every reason girls were confusing. At some point I ended up staring at your lips, and you ended up staring at my lips, and then we had our very own blue food coloring flavored first kiss, just like only you and I could do. Then, being the idiot I was, still am maybe, I pulled away, told you I was one hundred and ten percent straight, and proceeded to bang you in your room half an hour later. Wow. That was really quite a night."

Mike reaches up and twirls one of his curls around his forefinger thoughtfully, almost surprised that his hair is still so thick, even after 86 years of life. Will always loved running his fingers through Mike's hair.

"I could recite our wedding vows word for word, or tell you very single sentence our Clo said from ages four to fifty, but I would rather just remind you that I love you. Oh, also that you have a new great-grandchild. Rowan. She arrived two months ago, and she's the sweetest baby I've ever seen. I know she isn't biologically related but I swear I see so much of you in her already, I know she'll grow up to be a lover and a fighter, just like you. I want to remind you, once again, that I love you. Damn near 66 years of marriage and I never regretted a thing, because no matter how many dirty looks we got, no matter how many slurs were thrown at us, all that mattered was you."  
Mike looked up at the sky once more, thoughtfully.  
"I love you so much, William Byers. I love your everything. I even love the your maleness, after years of internalized homophobia. I love you, Will, and I'll see you soon."

Mike walks over to a gnarled looking tree, and pulls out a tiny silver chain from under his shirt, removing a sturdy key, and wiggling a small mettle box from a hole-like gap between the roots. He unlocks the box, and unwraps the dusty blue handkerchief from inside, removing a delicate braided wire ring, and slipping it onto his pinky, remembering what Will had told him years after they had moved from Hawkins.  
'I left you a gift back there, in the lock box. If you ever go back without me, no matter the reason, wear it and think of me there with you, because I always will be.'  
Mike kisses the ring and leaves, walking away with more memories than before.

Castle Byers stands alone as snow coats it's last remains, and the sun sets just like it would on any other day, letting the world fall into darkness.

Mike Wheeler passes away one week later, in a hospital, surrounded by loved ones, with a ring on his hand and a smile on his face, ready to see his love once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I know this probably has a million typos, I know the writing style is a lot different, I know I know I know.  
> I wrote it at 3 am.  
> Also enjoy the added tags <3
> 
> (I might write an alternate thing or something later, idk)
> 
> Also, yes, Mike and Will did adopt and yes their kid's name is Clover and yes they are nonbinary.  
> yes <3


End file.
